Above: Origami "armed" tapeworm

TAPEWORMS USUALLY DO NOT CAUSE SYMPTOMS THAT YOU NOTICE

Animals can have tapeworms, too

Tapeworm infestation is having adult tapeworms in the digestive tract. Humans and animals can have tapeworm infestation. You can get tapeworms from eating undercooked food. Humans can be hosts (carriers) of larval worms in their body tissues. There are recent reports of an increase of tapeworms infecting the brain more frequently than previously thought to have.

Babies with tapeworms are very irritable.

There are four tapeworms that commonly infect humans. They are shown below. Other kinds (genus Echinococcus) infect intermediate hosts. Those hosts are things like sheep and cattle. (See the life cycle on this page.)Although tapeworms in the intestine usually cause no symptoms, some people experience upper abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. Anemia may develop in people with the fish tapeworm. Infection is generally recognized when the infected person passes segments of proglottids in the stool (looks like white worms), especially if a segment is moving. Worms seldom block the intestine, but it sometimes does happen. Taenia solium larvae can get into to the brain. (See below.) This is really rare, but it can give the host headaches, seizures and other neurological problems. This is called neurocysticercosis. Infection can last for many years before the brain symptoms appear.

TAENIA SAGINATAThis kind of tapeworm is called the beef tapeworm and is caused most often by eating undercooked beef, infecting carnivores with a cysticercus. Click on photo for information.

DIPHYLLOBOTHRIUM LATUMCalled the fish tapeworm. This type of tapeworn infection comes from eating raw or undercooked fish. It usually is found in the cold regions of the world.

Click on photo for information.

TAENIA SOLIUMCalled the pork tapeworm. If the eggs of Taenia solium enter the host from eating contaminated feces or food or water, it can cause a serious condition known as cysticercosis, where the larvae move around in the body and can get into the brain, causing severe problems. Click on photo for information.

HYMENOLEPSIS NANACalled the dwarf tapeworm, it is the only human tapeworm that doesn't need to have an intermediate host. It gets into the person by hand to mouth ingestion. Usually small children get this infestation.Click on photo for information.

As you can see, the cycle can begin with the ingestion undercooked meat or fish.The tapeworms grow and release packages of eggs and sperm. They are released by the host when the eggs are formed. If they end up in grass, and the packages open, the eggs are dumped into the grass. If a cow, or sheep or goat eat that grass the eggs would grow into larvae inside the animal. They get into the muscles of the animal. Then, if that animal is slaughtered and the meat is eaten undercooked the cycle starts over again. Click on the chart to the left for more information.